A 19-year-old was arrested on multiple charges, including murder, in a shooting that left two teenagers dead at a southwest Atlanta apartment complex last month, police confirmed Tuesday.
Montavious Ferguson was taken into custody Dec. 30, nearly two weeks after the shooting at the Retreat at Greenbriar apartments, jail records show. Atlanta police confirmed he was a suspect in the shooting, which investigators believe stemmed from a social media dispute between two groups boiling over into the real world.
Two teens died as a result of the shootout, which involved children as young as 11, police said.
Malik Grover, 14, and Justin Powell, 16, were identified as the slain teens. Powell was shot five times, including in the chest, back and in his right eye, his family previously told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Police did not provide further details about the dispute that led to the shooting, but said a group of people arrived at the apartment complex and opened fire around 5 p.m. on Dec. 17. In addition to the two victims who were killed, two 15-year-olds and an 11-year-old suffered injuries not considered life-threatening.
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
No additional information has been released about Ferguson’s arrest, including whether more suspects were involved.
Before October 2021, the apartment complex was called The Park at Greenbriar. An AJC investigation revealed that a deputy sheriff who patrolled the complex for reduced rent said he moved out after a man was shot dead in August 2019 near his front door. He testified that an apartment manager told him the budget had no room for security guards.
The 2019 shooting marked the start of a five-month string of violence at the complex. Apartments were sprayed with gunfire, a tenant was robbed by armed men, another tenant reported her children were held at gunpoint, a maintenance supervisor was threatened with a gun, a visitor was shot in the face, another visitor was shot in the parking lot, and a different visitor was shot while walking to Greenbriar Mall to meet up with his mother, the AJC uncovered.
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